4 Painful Parallels between Moyes and Mourinho

#3 Emphasis on youngsters

Chelsea v Manchester United - The Emirates FA Cup Final

Right from Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, David Beckham to the present day Pogba, Rashford and Lingard, the Manchester United Academy has led the way for a bright and hopeful future on the red side of Manchester and for the game at large.

It is no secret that the academy is one of the most promising recruitment grounds for the team hence validating how it is one of the best in the world. David Moyes’ time at United saw an ocean of criticism on several aspects which could be the former United boss’ justification to a lack of attention given to the youth academy.

However, Moyes was never known to be a manager to nurture talent, unlike his immediate predecessor. He faced immense criticism even after leaving Everton for an odd indifference to the youth system of the Toffees.

This practically translated itself even during his spell at United. Under Mourinho, much like the Moyes era, the development of youngsters has been limited to the matter of circumstance or lack of choice. The young blood of United have had a fair share of Mourinho’s attention no doubt, but whether he has aided in their growth and development, is debatable.

Take the current scenario into consideration. The present United boss has two of the most exciting young talents in the world in the form of Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial. Although Mourinho hasn’t denied this fact, he simply doesn’t seem to trust the duo having started them rarely in the previous season.

This is only further corroborated by United’s urgency to sign a new winger to replace the French international. Martial (22) and Rashford (20) have shown great promise and the United boss’ argument pointing out their inconsistency can be redirected to his own inconsistency in strategy and starting 11 he has chosen.